William ii



No. 623,796. Patented Apr. 25, I899.

W. H. LOGAN.-

FIRE ES CAPE.

(Application filed Sept. 7, 1898 'rarns PATENT rrrn.

ilwrrn VILLIAM H. LOGAN, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR TO THE KIRKER- BENDER FIRE ESCAPE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

FIRE-ESCAPE.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent NO. 623,796, dated April 25, 1899.

Application filed September '7, 1898. Serial No. 690,423. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: the tower or the means of access to its inte- Be it known that I, \VILLIAM H. LOGAN, of rior forming no part of the present invention. Louisville,in the county of Jefferson and State In the interior of the tower is erected a spiral of Kentucky, have inx ented certain new and slideway, composed of metal sheets or plates 5 useful Improvements in Fire-Escapes; and I 11, whose outer edges rest against the inner do herebydeclare that the followingis afull, surface of the tower and may be secured clear, and exact description of the invention, thereto in any suitable manner. The lower which will enable others skilled in the art edge of each sheet overlaps the upper edge to which it appertains to make and use the of the next lower sheet, as at 12, and the 10 same, reference being had to the accompanyoverlapped edges may be secured together by ing drawings, and to the numerals of reference any suitable means which will leave a smooth marked thereon,w'hich form part of this-specisurface over which to slide without danger of fication. injury to the person. The inner edge of each My invention relates generally to fire-essheet is bent to form a bead, as at 13, the I5 capes, and more particularly to that class of bead of each sheetresting upon and slightly fire-escapes which consist, primarily, of a spioverlapping the bead of the next lower sheet, ral way or slide supported around a central if desired, the beads of all the sheets of a compost and inclosed within a vertical cylinder or plete slideway forming a central post around column. which the slidewayis arranged, the slideway 20 The object of my invention is to generally ending at the bottom at 14, Fig. 3, adjacent to improve the construction and operation of double doors 15 16. this class of fire-escapes; and with this object Thedoors 15 16 are hinged at 17 to open in view myinvention consists in the improved outward, the meeting edge of door 15 overconstruction, arrangement, and combination lapping the edge of door 16. Upon the door 25 of parts hereinafter fully described,and after- 15, on the inside, are lugs 18 and 19, a vertical ward specifically pointed outin the appended latch-bolt 20 being arranged to slide in lug claims. 19 and at its lower end to engage a fixed part In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is 0f-the tower. In the lug 18 is pivoted at its a perspective sectional view of part of afireangle an elbow-shaped foot-lever 21, the short o escape constructed in accordance with myinarm of which is pivotally connected to the vention, all the parts being broken away to upper end of the latch-bolt 20,'while its long more clearly illustrate their construction. arm extends downward in the path of the feet Fig. 2 is a fragmentary detail perspective of a person sliding down the way. view of part of the spiral way, illustratingv 22 indicates a spring-plate secured at its 35 specially the overlap of the plates of the spiral upper end by rivets or bolts 23 to the interior way and the head on their inner ends. Fig. 3 ofdoor 15 above the latch. This spring-plate is a horizontal sectional View taken on the extends downward, overhanging the latch dotted line 3 3 of Fig. 1, looking downward. mechanism, the elbow-lever21 being slidably Fig. 4 is an exterior view in elevation of the mounted in a lug 24 on the under side of the 0 40 double doors, the spring foot-plate and latch spring-plate. The normal tendency of the being shown in dotted outline. spring-plate is to force the lower end of the Like numerals of reference mark the same long arm of the elbow-lever outward, thus parts wherever they occur in the several figforcing the end of the short arm downward, ures of the drawings. carryingthelatch-boltdownward withayield- 5 Referringto'thedrawings by numerals, 1O ing pressure, thereby making of it a springindicatesavertical cylinder,column,or tower, latch bolt to automatically lock the doors which maybe erected in a building or outside when closed. When a person descending in thereof and adjacent thereto in any suitable the slideway reaches this point, his feet will manner, access beinghad to theinteriortherecome into contact with the spring-plate 22, I00 50 of at the top or at suitable intervals by any and depressing said plate will withdraw the known approved means, the construction of latch-bolt and force the doors open without the necessity of raising or manipulating them by hand, thus affording free egress from the tower.

It will be observed that the spring-plate 22 is widened at its lower end, (see dotted lines, Fig. 4,) so that it would be almost impossible for the descending person to miss striking it, and, further, thatit performs the double function of spring for the latch and foot-plate for releasing the latch.

The lowermost sheet of the slideway is properly formed to shape the way to end at the spring foot-plate and may be turned up to form a tlange on its end line 14, before referred to.

The construction of my invention will be readily understood from the foregoingdescription and needs no further elucidation. The person descending the tower on the slideway will automatically open the doors at the bottom, and thus cannot by any accident be shut in.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. A fire-escape eomprisinga suitable tower, and a spiral slideway therein composed of plates overlapping at their upper and lower edges and connected together at their inner edges to form a central post, substantially as described.

2. A tire-escape comprising a suitable tower and a spiral slideway therein composed of plates united at the upper and lower edges and bent at their inner edges to form tubular beads which join each other and form a complete central, hollow post, substantially as described.

3. A fire-escape comprisinga suitable tower and a spiral slideway therein, in combination with double doors inthe tower at the foot of the slideway hinged to open outward, a latchbolt on the inside of the doors, and a latchlever therefor arranged in the path of the person descending the slideway, substantially as described.

4:. Afire-escapeeomprisingasuitable tower and a spiral slideway therein, in combination with suitable doors in the tower at the footof the slideway hinged to open outward, a latchbolt on the inside of the door, a spring-plate secured on the door and overhanging, the latch, and an elbow-latch lever connected pivotally with the latch -bolt and slidably with the spring-plate, substantially as described.

5. The combination with the tower and slidewayot'the double doors in the tower opening outward at the foot of the slideway, the lugs on the inside of one of the doors, the latch-bolt slidably mounted in the lower lug, the spring-plate secured to the inner face of the door, the lug on the face of the springplate, and the elbow-latch lever pivotally mounted at its angle in the upper lug of the door having its inner shorter arms pivotally connected to the latch-bolt, and its depending longer arm slidably mounted in the lug on the spring-plate, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I allix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

\VILLIAM II. LOGAN.

\Vitnesses:

O. E. DUFFY, F. C. BARRY. 

